Common questions about COVID that I get from patients at my clinic
Common questions about COVID that I get from patients at my clinic
May I share with you the most common questions about the Coronavirus disease (COVID) that I receive from patients who come to my clinic.
- What conditions are associated with severe COVID-19?
Answer: Severe infection can occur in healthy individuals regardless of age. But severe infection usually occurs in patient with a heart problem, uncontrolled diabetes, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and Cancer patients on chemotherapy
- What are the major cardiac complications of covid19?
Answer: Up to 20% of hospitalized patient developed arrhythmias (irregular heart rate) which can lead to heart attack. Some patients who develop heart attack will have long term heart failure that requires long term maintenance medications
- What is long covid?
Answer: Long Covid is also known as post-COVID syndrome, post-COVID condition, or PASC (post acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection). Long covid is characterized by the following
symptoms that persist for months or even years following the infection. These symptoms include: easy fatigability, irritating cough, chest pain, arthritis, difficulty of breathing, poor concentration, insomnia and depression
- Can we clinically distinguish COVID-19 from other respiratory infection like influenza?
Answer: No. Clinically we can’t distinguish covid19 from influenza and
other respiratory viral infections because of their overlapping symptoms. The only way to distinguish it among others is to do the testing.
- Can RT-PCR detect SARS-CoV2?
Answer: At best, RT-PCR will miss 20% of people infected with SARS- CoV-2. A repeat test is recommended if infection is highly considered. For patients with COVID19 pneumonia, the repeat test can be performed on patient’s sputum.
- Can SARS-CoV-2 variants be detected by RT-PCR?
Answer: While RT-PCR tests detect spike protein gene, it also detects other viral genes. Thus, if there is alteration in one gene, the other gene targets still function and the PCR will detect the virus,may it be Delta or Omicron variant.
- Do we have medications for post exposure prophylaxis to prevent COVID-19?
Answer: The US FDA issued an emergency use authorization to use the monoclonal antibodies bamlanivimab-etesevimab and casirivimab-imdevimab to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection in a patient who meets the following criteria:
- close contact with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection
- has risk factors for progression to severe COVID-19 (advance age, immunocompromised, comorbids etc)
- expected to have poor response to covid19 vaccine
- unvaccinated individuals
Unfortunately, these medications for post exposure prophylaxis are not yet available in the country.